60 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



little chance against the wiles of Zilla, and on coming to close 

 quarters with the snare soon succumbed. It was interesting 

 watching the Zillas at work, running here and there on their 

 orb, too busy to return to their tubular retreat, such good luck 

 coming their way but seldom. It was a day to be chronicled in 

 their life-history, and the next few days would be for them an 

 incessant round of feeding, until their jackets would not stand 

 the strain any longer and burst. The moulting of this little 

 colony of Zillas would probably occur long before that of their 

 half-starved brothers at the back of the shed, but little cared they 

 for this, for Spiders are selfish creatures, and think only of them- 

 selves. 



A most pleasant afternoon was spent on Filby Broad, and, 

 after a good row round its borders, I made for a private jetty, to 

 have a search for some of the night-roving species lurking under 

 the loose bark of the piles driven into the lake. Here the evil- 

 looking Shadow Spider (Epeira umbratica) was found in all stages 

 of growth, and some Drassida (Clubiona pallidida and G. holo- 

 sericea), while a female of Drassus lapidosus was captured. I 

 found, too, a number of specimens of what I think is one of the 

 most handsome British species (Segestria senoculata), one of the 

 few six-eyed Spiders that are found in the British Isles. 



Altogether I turned into a tube of methylated spirit some 

 thirteen species in the short time I was around this jetty, and, 

 on putting off, feared the owner might require summary venge- 

 ance for bark- stripping his property. If he is a "nat," and 

 reads these lines, he will forget and forgive, for all naturalists 

 have sometimes to sail close to the wind to obtain specimens 

 for their cabinets. 



A walk one morning along the road to the old ruins of Burgh 

 Castle will remain long in my memory, for it was on some palings 

 a short distance from the Southtown Boad that I found the 

 Erigone which I have mentioned. I saw numbers of the com- 

 monly distributed Lycosid (Pisaura mirabilis) in their nests in 

 the hedge-banks, with the young clustered around, and it seemed 

 remarkably late, for in the midlands the young had dispersed 

 weeks before. The interesting "Grass-field Spider" (Agelena 

 labyrinthica) was fairly abundant, lying in its tubular retreat, 

 ever ready to capture any insect that should alight on its 



